Frienemies
by Doctor Wolfie
Summary: Olive is confused. She doesn't know what Chuck is anymore. A friend? An enemy? Or...perhaps something even more? Cholive.
1. Enemies

**It's Wolfie! With another fic…although it's no longer Wicked. I'm branching out to Pushing Daisies now! It's a miracle! ;)**

**So…this was originally supposed to be a gift one-shot for Crys, but it kind of turned into a gift three-shot. And I've posted this already**** on the PD forum and the PD fanfic community on LiveJournal, so if this story seems similar…that's probably why.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1: Enemies**

It all began with the pies. Chuck had made it a tradition of sorts to bake pies for her two aunts every week. Strawberry pies, peach pies, apple pies…anything she could find that was lying around, and that she felt like making. She would make them on the afternoons that Ned would be out of The Pie Hole, sometimes with Emerson, sometimes by himself. Her "pie afternoons", as she had come to calling them by herself, had become something akin to comfort; it was the best way that she could touch her aunts' lives in the only way that she knew how.

Olive Snook would happen to drop by the kitchens on various occasions when business was slow, just observing Chuck, but not saying anything. They both knew that they would have to talk about what had happened in the forest on Halloween night sooner or later, but neither of them dared to bring up the subject. It had seemed to be some sort of taboo subject, and an awkward silence would immediately descend upon the two of them should they be together alone. Both were still unsure of where they stood in their friendship.

Finally, Chuck decided that enough was enough. If Olive wouldn't talk, then she would start the conversations. Taking a break from her latest peach pie, she walked out of the kitchens in into the restaurant, where Olive was sitting with a cup of coffee. The only people in The Pie Hole at the moment were two old men in one booth reading newspapers, and a young couple in another.

The blonde waitress didn't even notice Chuck coming towards her, until Chuck called her name. "Olive?" Chuck repeated. "I'm making pies for my aunts. You wanna help?" Her eyes widened almost innocently, something that she did subconsciously when she asked a question.

"You mean your aunts who think that you're_ dead_?" Olive retorted. The half-pleading, half-exasperated look that Chuck gave her almost made Olive regret saying what she just had said. Almost. She glanced around the store, but seeing no reason for her to refuse Chuck's offer, shrugged. "Why not?" Perhaps she would be able to figure out another way to divert Ned's attention from Chuck to herself in the meanwhile. What was it they said? "_Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer_," wasn't it?

Olive wasn't sure, however, if she would consider Chuck her _enemy_. Certainly, the brunette was in the way of her gaining Ned's affections. However, during all the time that they had spent together during the murders around and during Halloween, something had developed in Olive. She wasn't sure what it was, but it certainly wasn't hatred. _Frienemies_ she decided. _We can be __frienemies_.

She drained the last of her coffee and followed Chuck into the kitchen, where the half-finished pie had been abandoned in the middle of the table. "So what is it you want me to do?" she asked, situating herself in a chair by the sink.

Chuck gestured to the slightly pathetic looking pie. "Help me with the pie," she said. She paused, confused, as Olive gave a small laugh. "What?" she demanded. "What's so funny?"

"Hasn't Ned told you that I can't bake?" Olive asked. "I was hired to be a waitress, not a baker. You don't want me _poisoning_ your aunts, do you?"

"Nonsense," Chuck said firmly, putting her hand on Olive's arm and dragging her over to the pie. "Anyone can bake. All it takes is a little practice. Or…a lot of practice. Look, I'll show you. I promise that you won't poison anyone. But to be on the safe side, we could always keep this one to ourselves, and I could bake another one for my aunts."

"And poison the customers here instead?" Olive suggested, the hint of a smile showing on her face. "Perhaps Emerson would do."

Chuck laughed. "That's the spirit, Olive. Now, as I learned from this old cookbook that I found at my aunts' house…"

_Definitely __frienemies_, Olive thought as Chuck began a complicated explanation on peach pie that reminded the waitress of her math classes. _Chuck is definitely a frienemy_.

* * *

So Chuck's "pie afternoons" soon became Chuck and Olive's "pie afternoons". Somehow, in the days that they spent in each other's company, they managed to avoid the topic that they had needed to discuss in the first place. It had almost become an unspoken understanding that there was no need to discuss it anymore. The two secretly enjoyed each other's company, and that was that.

Chuck loved the way that Olive would walk around, trying to balance two or three pies in her arms without falling over. She loved Olive's slightly sarcastic sense of humor. She was grateful for the time that she got to spend with her. She learned that Olive had come from a small town in another state, but had moved here when she was twenty. She learned that Olive's favorite type of pie was kiwi (which Chuck found a little strange, but stored it away in her mind for later). She learned that Olive had trained for several years in singing as a child, and had a beautiful voice. The more Chuck learned about Olive, the more she found herself knowing more.

Olive, on the other hand, loved the way Chuck laughed, and how her smile lit up the room. She loved the way that Chuck cared about everyone around her, even if she had never met those people before. She was glad for the company on the long afternoons when The Pie Hole was more or less empty. She learned that Chuck had lived with her two aunts since her father had died of unexplained causes. She learned that Chuck enjoyed music and could play the piano. She learned that Chuck could speak several different languages fluently: French, German, Swedish, Chinese, and Japanese. The more Olive learned about Chuck, the more she wanted to know.

They found themselves looking forward to their "pie afternoons". There, they were free to talk about anything. Olive found an attentive listener in Chuck, and Chuck found someone who she could finally connect with in a more intimate way in Olive.

Not that Chuck couldn't connect with Ned. Of course she could; she understood his fears, his doubts, his uncertainties. Or did she? Ned never opened himself up to her, except for a few rare occasions. It was hard to get close to someone she couldn't touch, and since Ned didn't like to talk about emotional issues, it was doubly difficult. Ned would rather run from issues that to lay them out on the table to discuss.

Olive, however, didn't do that. She was blunt, always saying what she felt and feeling what she said. Therefore, it became almost easier for Chuck to talk to Olive about how she was feeling. She would tell Olive her frustrations with not being able to see her aunts and her inability to do anything exciting with her life. Olive would listen.

Olive found quite a playful spirit in Chuck as well. The not-dead-girl had a fondness for humor, even in the most serious times. It came as no surprise to Olive that when she accidentally got a little flour on Chuck, the brunette retaliated with a handful down Olive's back.

Olive turned and gave Chuck her fiercest glare, which wasn't that scary, seeing that it was coming from a four foot, eleven inches woman. Chuck, being not intimated at all, just blinked innocently and smiled. Olive, of course, had to retaliate, and this soon escalated into a flour fight. Which soon turned into an all out food fight.

Olive was silently thankful that there were no patrons in the restaurant that night. She was sure that they would be scared away by the copious amounts of noise and war cries coming from the kitchen at that point. Somehow, in the mess they had made, Chuck ended up slipping on the flour that had found its way onto the kitchen floor. Before Chuck's head could hit the floor face-first, which would undoubtedly result is a nasty mess all over, Olive dove forward, caught Chuck, slipped herself, and ended up in a very compromising position, with Chuck's face pressed up against hers, and with both of them panting and sweating, as if they had just run a marathon.

Chuck chose that time to look up at Olive to thank her, but as she opened her mouth, no sound came out. There, standing in the doorway, was a shell-shocked Ned.

**I've actually already finished this story…so next chapter should come relatively soon. As in…maybe tomorrow or the day after that.**

**-Wolfie**


	2. Friends

**Yay****…chapter two is up. Not a very eventful chapter…we actually get to the exciting part in just about the last sentence.**

**And forgive me for my portrayal of Emerson. I seriously can't write him. Seriously. I'm sorry that I butchered his character. Kind of. **

**Chapter ****2: Friends**

Olive Snook had never been tongue-tied before. She always knew what she wanted to say, and would say it despite the circumstances. This was the first time that all the words flew out of her brain. "Oh." Olive immediately loosened her grip on Chuck as soon as she saw the Piemaker in the doorway. "I was just…we were-"

"It's uh…not what it looks like." Chuck spoke up and disentangled herself from Olive's arms. "Flour fight…I slipped…Olive caught me." She couldn't understand why she couldn't form a complete thought. She had done nothing wrong, but she couldn't seem to be able to tell Ned exactly what had happened. The close proximity of Olive to herself had sent her heart pounding and made her face flush. Self-consciously, she raised her hand to her face to cover the blush.

There was a snicker from behind Ned. "Looks like you can't control your harem here." Chuck rolled her eyes. Of course, it had to be Emerson Cod in all his glory, standing there, hidden from view.

"That was uncalled for, Emerson," Chuck snapped. She turned back to Ned. "Look, Ned, we can clean up if you like…it's not as bad as it looks. Really."

Ned, however, wasn't listening. "Olive, what are you doing in here anyway?" he asked, frowning a little. "Aren't you supposed to be out with the other patrons?" He nodded towards the entrance of the kitchen, motioning that she should dust herself off and get back out to the customers waiting for the one waitress employed at The Pie Hole to go and serve them.

"Well, yes, but…I'll just go now," Olive mumbled. She avoided Chuck's eyes as she left the kitchens, still trying to get all of the flour off of her green dress.

As she left, Ned turned away from her and looked over the mess in the kitchen. "A flour fight, huh?" he asked, slightly amused. The corners of his mouth turned up in the beginnings of a smile as he imagined his girlfriend and his waitress having a flour fight in the kitchen. "Who started it?"

Chuck, however, wasn't so amused. "You didn't have to be so mean to Olive," she scolded. "It was as much my fault as it was hers. Didn't you see her face? We were just having a bit of fun that got out of hand, Ned."

Ned nodded, but didn't say anything. He himself wasn't sure why he had overreacted so severely. The image of Olive catching Chuck when she fell and holding her as Ned himself never could had caused some kind of jealous reaction in the Piemaker. Their closeness and sense of tangibility was something that he would never be able to experience. He was resentful of the fact that everyone, even Olive, who he know hated Chuck to some degree, could touch her while he couldn't. He didn't tell anyone how he felt, but deep down, he knew that those were his true feelings.

"I want you to apologize to her," Chuck finally said after a long bit of silence. "I think you really hurt her just now, so it's only fair if you give her an apology. You certainly over-reacted; a little bit of flour will not hurt the kitchen floors, and it's easy to clean up. You go apologize and I'll find a mop and some water." She gave Ned a _look_, which Ned interpreted as "_Go apologize or suffer the consequences of the dead girl's wrath_," so he turned to go into the main restaurant and find Olive, like a dog with its tail tucked under its legs.

Emerson gave another snicker as he left to sit at his usual booth and enjoy the show. "Looks like what they say is true," he said. "The walking dead _do_ scare the hell out of living men."

* * *

Chuck sighed as she turned over on her bed. The moon was full, and its beams shone through the curtains, effectively preventing her from falling asleep successfully. Ned was out late again with Emerson, finishing up an investigation of the murder of a forty-five year old woman who had been found hanging in her own backyard. There was only silence pressing in on Chuck from all sides of her. Every time Chuck tried to drift off, she would find herself thinking about Olive.

Even Chuck had to admit that the feel of Olive touching her had caused shivers to run up and down her spine. The place where she had felt Olive's hands were tingly, and for a moment, Chuck was tempted to place her own hand there and pretend that it was Olive who was touching her, holding her, caressing her…

Her thoughts about Olive suddenly came to a screeching halt. '_What are you thinking?'_ Her mind screamed. '_You are thinking about Olive in a completely inappropriate way. We are friends. Nothing more. She loves Ned_.' (This, she had to admit to herself. It was blatantly obvious; she just chose to ignore it.) '_And besides, you have Ned. Remember Ned?'_

_'It's not the same_,'the other voice in her head retorted. Chuck sighed. The other voice was partially right. No matter how much love she felt for Ned, it was hard to build a relationship when neither of them could touch each other. She would always be grateful to him for bringing her back to life, but after these few months of trying to have a relationship, she was beginning to long for human touch. The afternoon with Olive had only intensified the feelings.

Chuck groaned into her pillow. This was all getting too confusing. Olive was another person of the same gender as herself. A female. She wasn't lesbian; she had never shown any tendencies to be so. Besides, even if she did admit to herself that she liked Olive more than a friend would, she had no way to tell if the shorter woman felt the same way. For all Chuck knew, the blonde just thought of her as a friend. Olive didn't seem to really have any others anyway.

Chuck was contemplating getting out of bed and making herself some tea when there came a knocking from the doorway. Seeing this as some kind of divine message from God that she should stop attempting sleep and should be getting out of her bed, Chuck pushed her covers away and walked towards the door. She opened it, but kept the chain in place, just in case she needed to slam it shut. With a "murder detective" for a boyfriend, it was very possible.

She frowned, but not in anger, as she realized who was standing outside her door. "Olive?" she asked, opening the door fully. "What are you doing here? It's nearly eleven at night." She stepped back to let Olive in, who was followed by Digby. He trotted into the apartment and lay down at Chuck's feet, who bent down to ruffle his fur.

"I couldn't sleep," Olive admitted. "So I came over here. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, no," Chuck replied. "Not at all. I was actually just about to make myself some tea. Would you care to join me?" Olive nodded, grateful for the company. With only Digby in her apartment, she had felt lonely, as she did every night. However, tonight had been different. Her thoughts had kept straying back to Chuck. The brunette woman entranced her, making her feel things she had never felt for anyone before, not even Ned. On the off chance that Chuck might be in Ned's apartment, she had wandered over, hoping for some form of company.

Olive watched in silence as Chuck made two cups of tea. She was admiring the woman's sturdy profile from behind, but only when she was sure that Chuck wasn't watching her in return. "Penny for your thoughts," Chuck said as she carefully brought the tea over to the small table.

"Oh. Nothing," Olive said as she took a sip of her tea, grateful for the hot liquid that prevented her from any more questions. "I was just thinking. You know, of…things." Without realizing it, Chuck had moved her hand over to cover Olive's smaller one on the table. Olive felt her heart rate speed up, and she briefly wondered how high the temperature in the apartment currently was, because she was beginning to sweat.

"Things? That's certainly specific," Chuck lightly teased. "I can certainly think of many things that you could be thinking about. Olive blushed again as she thought about what Chuck might say if the brunette _actually_ knew what she was thinking about.

Little more was said between the two women as they finished their tea almost in complete silence. Both were feeling a mounting tension of suppressed energy between them, but neither knew how to act on them, nor did either know how the other felt, or if the other felt the energy at all. Finally, as the last of the tea was drained, and Chuck had placed the cups into the sink, she walked Olive to the door.

"Well, goodnight," Chuck finally said, opening the door and letting Olive leave. Olive didn't say anything. She had been contemplating all night what to do, and how Chuck would react to what she had planned. Her stomach was doing flip-flops at the mere thought of it, but she figured that she had nothing to lose and everything to gain. As Chuck looked at Olive with a questioning look on her face, Olive stood up on her tip-toes, leaned forward, and kissed Chuck directly on the lips.

**And the next and final chapter should be posted on Friday. Full of…well, you'll have to see, won't you?**

**Now, I have to go and do my math homework. **

**-****Wolfie**


	3. Lovers

**Well, that was quick. This here is the last chapter of my three-shot. I hope you've enjoyed it. Thanks to all my readers and especially reviewers (namely gizziefan118, Love That Wicked, Firstlady1408, The Queen of ****Snape****, and Alexz6.)**

**Without further ado…**

**Chapter ****3: Lovers**

Time seemed to stand still as Olive and Chuck continued their kiss. To Chuck, it was amazing. It was exhilarating. It was wonderful. It was…completely and utterly crazy! This was exactly what she had wanted to avoid in the first place. But still, it felt somehow right, to be kissing her blonde co-worker. However, with a great amount of effort, Chuck finally pulled away.

There was a long silence. Olive could not bring herself to look up at what she knew would be an expression that indicated rejection on Chuck's face. Why did she have to be so _stupid_ and ruin their friendship? She should have been content with what she had. Even if Chuck couldn't be hers romantically, Olive had been grateful for their close friendship, and now, she had probably just ruined it forever. Chuck would never look at her the same way again.

It felt like there were a hundred, a thousand, a million butterflies flying around in Olive's stomach as the silence stretched on. To Olive, the silence made everything ten times worse. She would rather have Chuck scream, yell, rant, _anything_ other than the silence. At least, then, she would know Chuck's true feelings. She would rather hear the rejection than have to keep guessing.

And yet, there was still silence. Finally, Olive, breathed, in barely a whisper, "I-I have to go. Good night." Without another word, and without looking at Chuck's face, Olive stumbled as quickly as she could back into her apartment and closed the door, perhaps harder than she had wanted to. The force of the door closing echoed in the almost-empty hallway behind her.

Chuck stared at where Olive had been. She cursed herself for not saying anything. She was sure now that Olive thought that her kiss had been rejected. That was the only reason that Chuck could think of why Olive had retreated back into her own apartment so quickly. The brunette reasoned that since Olive had initiated the kiss, she had wanted it. Therefore, she quickly gathered her determination and pounded on Olive's closed door before she could change her mind. "Olive!" she called, when the door didn't open immediately. "Open up! It's Chuck!"

There was no sound at first from the other side of the door. However, Chuck was known for being determined, even stubborn. She continued pounding on the door, resolving to give Olive no peace and quiet until the door was opened. "Olive!" she yelled loudly, ignoring the fact that the other residents in the apartment complex were probably trying to sleep at the late hour. "Open the door! Or I'll break your door down!"

In all honesty, Chuck knew that she would _not_ break Olive's door down. She could never do that to the woman who she secretly loved and who had just kissed her, and besides, Chuck doubted that she was even strong enough to do so if she wished to. Her ploy to get Olive to open her door, though, seemed to work, as Chuck heard a sniffled before the deadbolt slid back and the door opened a gap.

"Look Olive-" Chuck began.

Olive interrupted. "I know what you're going to say, Chuck," she began. "I'm sorry for…for kissing you. I guess I wasn't in the right state of mind or something. Well…" she gave a nervous laugh and took a deep breath, hoping to ask Chuck to forgive and forget. Yet, during the few seconds that it took for Olive to take a breath, Chuck began to speak.

"Olive," Chuck began quietly, her hands clammy and her mouth dry. "Did you…the kiss…I mean…uh…did you mean it? Romantically? The kiss?" Perhaps she was just reading into it too much. Perhaps it had merely been a friendly kiss good-night. In her heart, she knew that it wasn't, that it had been too personal to be considered 'friendly', but in Chuck's uncertain mind, anything was possible.

Olive could do nothing but blink. She definitely had not imagined those words to come out of Chuck's mouth. She had expected something perhaps something along the lines of, "That was completely out of line!" or "Don't come near me anymore!"

"Olive?" Chuck asked again.

"I-uh…yes." How was that for eloquence? "I guess I was just…uh…" Olive decided to get it all out of her in one big swoop. "It's been something that I've wanted to do for a long time. Ever since I've met you." Well, that was technically a lie. But it felt like forever to Olive, anyway. Love seemed to do that to people.

"In that case," Chuck said with a mischievous smile, "I'd suggest you open your door all the way first." With a confused expression on her face, Olive did so, unsure of what Chuck was planning this time. "Then," Chuck continued, coming into the apartment all the way and closing the door behind her, "I think I will do this." Without any warning, Chuck grabbed Olive, turning them both around so that Olive's back was to the door, and kissed her with all the ferocity she had inside her. She kissed her with the passion that she could never express with Ned. She kissed her with all that she had stored up inside her. Olive gladly returned the favor and kissed Chuck with equal fever, forever altering their relationship.

Somehow, in a tangle of arms, legs, and lips, the two women made their way to the couch. This kiss was everything that Chuck and Olive and ever dreamed of. Their wildest dreaming could not have produced a kiss this perfect. Finally, both of them had to stop due to lack of oxygen. They sat there, breathing hard and staring at each other.

"I…" Olive started, then stopped, unsure of how to exactly phrase her feelings at that current moment. The butterflies in her stomach from earlier seemed to have moved up to her heart; it was fluttering wildly, and if Olive didn't know that this was because of the kiss, she would have thought that she was having a heart attack.

Chuck gave her a reassuring smile. "My thoughts exactly," she agreed. "Wow." They stopped talking for a moment, just drinking in the moment, hoping to instill it into their memory forever. "So…what are we now?" Chuck asked, smiling as Olive consciously or unconsciously snuggled into her. "Girlfriends? Lovers?"

Olive grinned sleepily. "Neither," she answered. "How about frienemies?"

Chuck laughed aloud at this. Olive loved the way that Chuck laughed. "Frienemies?" Chuck repeated. "I like it." She paused again and groaned. "How are we going to tell Ned?"

But as the night wore on, Chuck realized that it didn't matter how they were going to tell Ned. The moment was too perfect to ruin by trivial matters like that. Olive and Chuck. Chuck and Olive. Opposites, and yet, alike. Enemies, and yet, friends. Frienemies.

**Aww****…fluff…just the way that you want it. Hopefully. I also write angst pieces…perhaps I'll post some of my Chuck/Olive angst pieces that I've written for fanfic100 here. Eventually.**

**-****Wolfie**


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